Graduate student Kalin Gibbons, currently working in Dr. Clare Fitzpatrick’s Computational Biosciences Laboratory within the Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Department, was recently awarded the prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. The award will provide $138,000 in funding for the completion of his Ph.D. in Computing over the next three years. Work has already begun to accomplish the tasks set out within the award-winning research proposal, which aims to improve joint stability and reduce the risks of falls in the older population through 1) development of an automated pipeline for magnetic resonance image segmentation and finite element meshing to enable the rapid generation of subject-specific FE models of the human knee, and 2) develop a computational platform to simulate potential rehabilitation and surgical interventions that will allow clinicians to elucidate the treatment options that will optimally reduce the risk of falls within this at-risk population.